These new laws have implemented several new demands of our local community vape shops with the high taxes being implemented  onto our local vape businesses, I’ll be surprised if half of them are even still around within the next 6 months. Between the excessive time they’ll have to take out of their busy days and nights to complete massive amounts of government forms needing be filed and the amount of money they will have to dish out to the state of NJ and Federal government to even stay in business, I don’t see this ending well. For any of us. This is apparently all just over the E - cigarette community!?! Meaning, Juul, My Blu, Flair, etc?? The ones you could just as easily buy in a Wawa, 711, Exxon or local gas station??

  I’ve been trying to do my research on this but it is all over the place. Many are concerned for their pod systems, like the novo or nord system by Smok. There’s a wide variety of people that do only smoke the e-cigarettes and I’m not knocking them, I’ve read that vaping those do cause certain health risks with flavor additives, but I’m unsure of the actual statistics on this nor am I sure on how the flavor additive effects the chemical makeup of their already made products. This research was also, all over the place. However, these already made pod systems consist of pre-filled pods and I just never liked that concept, because I liked to add my own, and that’s the only reason so it’s not my place to judge, please don’t take this wrong, these are all just my opinions. If it’s so, that THESE only are what are being banned, it doesn’t really make a difference in the cause that I am and will continue to fight for I am just intrigued by what this bill ACTUALLY means. This is the right of Americans across the United States of America, if they want to smoke a pod system with flavor because it helps them not to smoke the harmful carcinogens in cigarettes, why deny the American people not to do so. Wouldn’t it be much better to educate us? Maybe, I’m not positive if this is already happening but, instead of a ban why don’t they have the manufactures add the ingredients to the pod systems flavor packaging? The pod systems I’m familiar with are empty and the vape juice has to be bought separately WITH AN ENORMOUS TAX RAISE that took place JUST LAST YEAR and the people smoking, add later on depending on their preferences. Are these being banned too? Either way, I don’t see ANY kids outside vape shops in my area EVER, nor do I EVER see any parents looking to buy anything for their kids. These are already very expensive items and I know these statements to be true because my fiancé worked in a vape shop as a second job for the passed 2 years and I’ve hung out in them, listening, learning, hearing what’s been going on for awhile now and I no longer want to stay silent! He no longer works at the vape shop so I’ve since grown a bit naive to the laws and regulations, but any sensible person with any kind of wit would be able to understand my next statements.
  PARENTS! STOP BLAMING NJ, BLAME YOUR KIDS AND MAKE THEM TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEIR ACTIONS, INSTEAD OF BREEDING MORE MILLENNIALS THAT ARE PLACING BLAME ON EVERYONE BUT THEMSELVES. NJ, STOP THIS BAN ON THE ONE THING HELPING THE AMERICAN PEOPLE’S ABILITY TO QUIT SMOKING, THIS “EPIDEMIC”, HAS HELPED MANY PEOPLE AND BECOME A “WAY OUT” SIGNIFICANTLY MORE THAN ANY HARM DONE. Like I stated previously, I have been researching and the answers aren’t very clear, it’s not as black and white as the federal government is making it out to be. Are they banning flavors in ALL types of e-juices on the market, including -nic salts (a heavily diluted version of the nicotine additive that’s in Juul’s and lots of other pod systems but also come in a separate form from manufactures that you could buy at a high price with high tax) and (add yourself at your own leisure) and ALL VAPE/E JUICES/LIQUIDS with flavor?? So no more flavors for vapes of the mod system types (more bulky type of system with a lot of “cloud”), no more pod systems that you add juice to yourself, AND no more e-cigarettes flavors, except for tobacco flavor? Why? Why the flavors? Because of the kids.. right?

(IMPORTANT MESSAGE HERE)

Did you all know that TOBACCO IS IN FACT the leading cause of deaths related to cigarette use, NOT even nicotine, TOBACCO. TOBACCO causes the cancers and black lungs and cigarette related injury, sooooo, this is what you want to make the people who quit cigarettes get a taste for again?? All for the kids? Am I getting this right? The kids need education and their parents guidance. As a parent myself, of a middle school boy, I know this to be a fact. There IS in FACT, a boy that was selling E-cigarettes, an 8th grader, that was selling to the 6th graders. My son told me about it and he is in 6th grade AND my sons friend is one of the boys who bought one, so this is close to home here ok? The children involved got in school suspension for it and the parents were notified. Point, blank, period. I am STILL as a parent, worried but this is a decision my son will have to make for himself, as all the other kids who were all educated equally on this subject for years in school, about the effects of smoking, paying attention or not this is a matter of character and comes down to parenting in the end. This isn’t something our government should be focusing on as I stated in the petition. Even though this subject hits home in many ways on all sides, I’m still advocating FOR THE CAUSE OF NOT BANNING FLAVORS. I’m almost positive whether there was a flavor or not, the kids would have still done this, OR if they weren’t even in the picture it would be cigarettes, just like it was in my decade and the many decades before. 

  In closing, I saw a touching photo throughout my research of a young girl and young boy standing together, holding signs up in protest, both wearing shirts stating “My mom/dad smoked for 15/14 years, you aren’t saving me you’re killing my mom/dad” quite riveting, if you ask me. The signs stated, “You’re not saving us, you’re killing our parents!” and “Our parents lives matter”, if this doesn’t explain the entirety of my point and MANY others I don’t know what does. This photo was taken in front of the White House in the Washington D.C. where many others took to protest with signs and rallied together to support the cause. One woman’s hat read, “Keep America Vaping”, another, “Let America Vape Again”. This touched me. How can we get through to the senators who signed this bill? How can we get through to the state of NJ and the federal government? By signing these petitions and sticking up for this cause because nobody else is going to do it for us but us.

Just an update and some thoughts,

Ashley Saverino of Toms River, NJ